Baegun’s collection of teachings
The anthology commonly known as Jikji gathers teachings, dialogues and verses attributed to Buddhist patriarchs and teachers. The Goryeo monk Baegun Gyeonghan compiled the selection for instruction in Seon, or Zen, Buddhism. His disciples printed it at Heungdeoksa temple in Cheongju in 1377. Temples taught and preserved texts while also organizing copying and printing, carrying a teacher’s words to further generations of students.
Publication recorded in the colophon
The colophon records the place, year and use of cast type, as well as the participants. Seokcan and Daldam assisted publication, and the nun Myodeok supported the undertaking with a donation. These lines connect religious study, patronage and skilled work within one record. The surviving lower volume is held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Its paper, impressions and colophon provide direct evidence of the production.
Arranging metal characters into pages
Movable metal type divided writing into units that could be rearranged and reused. Workers selected characters, composed a page, applied ink, made impressions and redistributed the type for another page. A text in Chinese characters required a large repertoire, sometimes with several pieces representing the same character. Uneven impressions and occasional tilted or inverted characters preserve traces of the practical work of composition and printing.
A craft preserved in surviving pages
Goryeo printers used woodblocks as well as developing metal type, with the methods serving different publishing needs. Jikji shows casting and composition applied to a particular Buddhist anthology, joining technical work with religious publication. The surviving volume entered UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2001. Its pages remain a material example of early metal-type book production in East Asia.